1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing device that distributes a captured image outside, and especially related to a setting change process of an image capturing unit and an encoding unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an image capturing device that transmits a captured image to a reception apparatus, a command group that instructs a setting change from an external device to the image capturing device or start of distribution of an image is incorporated.
For example, a command group defined by the standard established in Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) is known, for example.
As a command to the image capturing device, for example, a command that instructs, to the image capturing unit of the image capturing device, generation of image data having predetermined resolution is included.
Further, for example, a command that instructs, to an encoding unit that encodes the image data generated by the image capturing unit, generation of image data having predetermined resolution is included.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-323007 discloses an image capturing device including a control unit that controls expansion/compression of a captured image.
However, if one of a set value of the image data generated by the image capturing unit and a set value of the image data generated by the encoding unit is changed, an inconsistency is caused in the combination of the both units, and the image data may not be able to be generated.
For example, assume that the resolution of the image data output from the image capturing unit is 1600×1200 pixels (the proportions=4:3), and the resolution of the image data output from the encoding unit is 1280×1024 pixels (the proportions=4:3).
Here, when a command is received from the external device, and the resolution of the image data output from the image capturing unit is changed to 1920×1080 (Full HD, the proportions=16:9), an inconsistency is caused between the resolution of the image data output from the image capturing unit and the resolution of the image data output from the encoding unit. That is, image data having the proportions of 16:9 is output from the image capturing unit to the encoding unit. Meanwhile, the proportions of the resolution of the image data output from the encoding unit is set to 4:3. Therefore, an inconsistency is caused between the proportions of the image data input to the encoding unit and the proportions of the image data to be output from the encoding unit. In such a case, the encoding unit cannot generate the image data.
Therefore, to eliminate the inconsistency, it can be considered that the image capturing device changes the setting of the proportions of the image data to be output by the encoding unit from 4:3 to 16:9. However, if the image capturing device itself changes the setting, an inconsistency with the set value held by the external device connected to the image capturing device is caused, and the setting change from the external device cannot be normally performed. That is, there is a problem that the set value to the image capturing unit of the monitoring camera and the set value to the encoding unit become inconsistent between the image capturing device and a client.
For example, assume that the proportions of the resolution of the image data output from the image capturing unit of the image capturing device and of the resolution of the image data output from the encoding unit are set to 4:3. At this time, in the external device connected to the image capturing device, the resolution of the image data output from the encoding unit is stored to be 4:3.
Assume that a command to the image capturing unit is transmitted from an external apparatus to the image capturing device, and the resolution of the image data output from the image capturing unit of the image capturing device is changed to 16:9. In response to it, if the image capturing device changes the resolution of the image data output from the encoding unit to 16:9, an inconsistency with the setting of the encoding unit stored in the external device is caused, and the change of the resolution cannot be normally performed.
For example, although it is necessary to instruct the resolution having the proportions of 16:9 to the encoding unit of the image capturing device, in the external apparatus, a user interface for instructing an output of an image data that has the resolution having the proportions of 4:3 to the encoding unit of the image capturing device is presented. Therefore, the change of the resolution cannot be normally performed.